This year, I decided to give my husband a different kind of gift this holiday season.
Every year he willingly and cheerfully participates in our annual family photo session. I know it stresses him out; squeezing in an appointment on a beautiful sunset lit afternoon during our already busy fall months, wondering if the kids will behave, dealing with coordinating outfits, and keeping me calm as I stress over getting everyone to our appointment on time, clean, and ready to smile. We have had wonderful photographers provide us with beautiful photos of our family, and don’t get me wrong. IT IS ALWAYS WORTH IT! But this year, I decided to give him a break.
This year, I said No. No, to the stress of finding coordinating outfits for a family of six. No, to the scheduled photo session at sunset on a weekend in October. No, to the debit from the bank account for the photo session. No, to worrying if my two-year-old would be grumpy when he awoke from his nap on picture day. It was a sacrifice on my part to give up something I really wanted to simply free up a little stress on the hubs this holiday season. My gift to him was saying NO to the picture-perfect holiday card.
And SURPRISE! It ended up being a gift to myself! The lack of stress. The simple iPhone photo of just the kids (having the beach as a backdrop helps). And my cards were delivered by Thanksgiving. And I saved money by ordering them before Thanksgiving. And I love this year’s card!
It helped me remember there was a time when I kept things simple. For years, my cards were just a snapshot of the kids or the family–until that one November when I happened to have a baby–and a professional newborn photography session. It was fun sending the picture perfect card–and it became the norm. I might lean toward keeping it simpler in future years, but I can’t promise I won’t say YES to one of those picture-perfect cards again one day!
Whether you use a professional or not, I say, please keep sending them! One of my favorite things about the holidays is receiving cards from near and far. This year, I’ve realized my kids love it as much as I do!
SO SO SO true! I could never pull off the “perfect” family photo – so I just avoided it all together. (Though, somehow was able to do it for my work team – guessing because someone else arranged it all-LOL). This year I just gave up and did the traditional card, no photos – but I LOVE getting other peoples photos -its such a catch 22. Thanks for sharing!